Pheasant 

Farming 



BY 'GENE M. SIMPSON 

Superintendent State Game Farm 

Corvalus, Oregon 




Pheasant Fakming 

BY 

'Gene M. Simpson 
Superintendent State Game Farm 



With illustrations from 

Photographs by Wm. L. Pinley and C. F. Hodge 

and 

Drawings by R. Bruce Horsfall 



Bulletin No. 2 



Published under the direction of 

William L. Finley 

OREGON FISH AND GAME COMMISSION 






Copyright, 1914, by William L. Pinley 



'CI.A416263 



Salem, Oregon : 

State Printing Department 

1914 



ft 



]2\ 1915 



PHEASANT FARMING 



CONTENTS 

Introduction 

I — Propagation of Game Birds 

II — Varieties of Pheasants 

III — The Chinese Pheasant in Oregon 

IV — Equipment for the Farm 

V — The Ideal Mother 

VI — Feeding Pheasant Chicks 

VII — Enemies of the Game Breeder 

VIII — Advice to the Beginner 




"We must produce, if we would destroy. 



PHEASANT FARMING 




California or Valley 
Quail 



Digitized by the Internet Archive 
in 2011 with funding from 
The Library of Congress 



http://www.archive.org/details/pheasantfarming01simp 




Male and Female Chinese or Denny Pheasants 



PHEASANT FARMING 



INTEODrCTIOX 




BOUT eight years ago Mr. Simpson 
published a booklet entitled "Pheas- 
ant Farming." The second edition 
of this was issued in 1908 and has 
for some time been out of print. 
As Mr. Simpson stated at the 
time, "We have an abundance 
of authorities on game bird pro- 
tection, but few on progagation. 
These authorities tell us when, 
where, bow many and in what 
manner garne birds may be killed, but little or nothing as to how 
they may be successfully propagated." 

Inasmuch as there is a decided interest in the raising of pheas- 
ants for market, and since we receive many inquiries from people 
who ask for information concerning various problems of pheasant 
raising, Mr. Simpson has revised and added to the original booklet 
and new illustrations have been provided, so as to give readers as 
much help as possible. 

' As Mr. Simpson says. •'•'There are many ways of raising pheas- 
ants, just as there are many ways of raising chickens. The methods 
described are not the only ways, but they are methods which I have 
followed with success and therefore I can recommend. Until ex- 
perience has been gained, I strongly advise the amateur to follow 
the system I have outlined.*" 

For many years Mr. "Gene M. Simpson has been well known as 
a successful breeder of pheasants and other game birds. He began 
by propagating a few pheasants in his back yard. He increased by 
buying the adjoining property and finally the whole block across the 
street. This was not sufficient, so he purchased 30 acres further out 
in the country. By adding improvements and equipment. Mr. Simp- 
son enlarged his business and built up a very profitable indusi 

When the Fish and Game Commission was established in this 
State in 1911, Mr. Simpson was employed to propagate game birds 
and stock various parts of the State. 

5 



PHEASANT FARMING 



Several months ago, there was an editorial in "The American 
Field" to the effect that a large amount of sportsmen's money had 
been squandered in establishing game farms which proved to be total 
failures, — "not that game birds cannot be raised in a semi-domestic 
manner, but because our form of government brings about such radi- 
cai administrative changes every few years that no one knows the 
tenure of his office, and appointments are made, not with regard to 
experience and ability to raise game birds, but to pay off political 
debts, and of all the departments in a state, the game and fish de- 
partments seem to be favored places to unload political obligations." 

The reason the State Game Farm in Oregon has been a success 
is because of Mr. Simpson. There are very few men in the United 
States today who are really successful in raising game birds. It 
takes long and patient study. It takes a man who loves the work. 
Many a person may succeed in raising two or three broods of pheas- 
ants, but it is rare to find one who can successfully raise several 
thousand birds each season, as Mr. Simpson is doing. He knows the 
business. He lives with his birds. His heart is in the work. 

William L. Finlet. 




Half Grown Pheasants 




CHAPTER I 

Propagation of Game Birds 

1ST AMERICA we have been very wasteful of 
our natural resources. This is especially the 
case in the destruction of our game birds. The 
experience of the continental countries has 
gone unheeded. In earlier years our virgin 
pastures furnished game in such numbers that 
it seemed impossible for it ever to disappear, 
but the rapidly increasing population and west- 
ward movement of civilization has brought our 
people to a realization that the game can disappear, and unless its 
slaughter is checked it will soon be but a memory. Though the 
spirit of protecting the game has come late, it is not too late. 

The true sportsman does not object to being limited in the 
amount of game he may kill in a season, or to being taxed for the 
privilege. Laws for game protection are necessary, but the time has 
come in America when game propagation is also necessary. The 
proper expenditure of the funds derived from hunters' licenses will 
provide means to secure both. 

Game bird propagation, while a well established business in 
Europe, is in its infancy in this country. That we must produce, 
if we would destroy, has dawned upon us. Propagation is the only 
solution of the future game supply problem. That we must sooner 

7 



PHEASANT FARMING 



or later accept the idea of private or public game propagation is 
brought out very forcibly by Henry Richmond Coyle, in "Outdoor 
World and Recreation" for October, 1913, in the following words: 




Smaller Game Bags Each Year 



"Without doubt or 
question we citizens of 
the United States are on 
the border line between 
two widely different 
eras of our growth. This 
is true in all phases of 
our social and business 
life, and not less of our 
life in the outdoor 
world. Little by little 
we have become used to 
smaller bags of game, 
little by little we have 
traveled farther and 
paid more for sport. In 
many futile ways, found- 
ed on hope and desire 
rather than on common 
sense, we have tried to 
arrest the hand which 
writes upon the wall. 
None the less, and we 
must admit it, all at- 
tempts to keep the old 
America have failed. We 
must pass not only from 
old days to new, but 
from old ways to new." 



The breeding of pheasants and other game birds in captivity for 

sale, under certain well defined regulations, either for eating or for 

breeding purposes, is just as legitimate as the breeding 

of any of our domestic birds or animals. Every game 

bird raised and sold in captivity helps to protect the 

state's supply of wild game. 

The growing need of special provisions governing the sale of 

game birds and animals raised in captivity is receiving recognition 



Raising 
Game for 
the Market 



PHEASANT FARMING 



by the Biological Survey of the Department of Agriculture at 
Washington, D. C, whose attitude on the subject is stated as 
follows : 

"The raising of game for profit not only need not 
jeopardize the safety and abundance of our wild game, 
but, under proper state license laws and a system of 
tagging game for shipment or sale, is likely to increase 
the quantity of wild game." 

The growth of the industry of raising game for the market, as 
cattle and poultry are raised, is manifested in legislation in many 
states during the last few years. A dozen states now have such 
provisions in their laws, and the production and marketing of do- 
mesticated game seems destined to become an industry that will de- 
mand more and more recognition in future legislation. With proper 
means of identification provided, so as to prevent evasion of the laws 
prohibiting traffic in wild game, there would seem to be no reason 
why this industry should not be encouraged in every pos- 
ftti! " ,sible way. One of the great reasons for non-observance 

State °^ & ame 1 &WS i s the ever-present desire of the general 

public to eat game. Make it possible for the general 
public to purchase game food during a legal season, and the in- 
centive to evade the laws would be minimized. In all game legisla- 
tion the general or non-sportsman public must be reckoned with. 
To ignore this factor invites violation of game and fish laws. 

A few states yet hold it a crime for any one to increase the sup- 
ply of game by breeding the same in captivity. Dillon Wallace, in 
Outing Magazine, says : 

"As a result of this method of protection our game 
is surely and rapidly diminishing in numbers, and the 
complete extinction of some species seems not far 
distant, unless some new tack is taken, and it would 
seem that the most reasonable solution of the problem 
would be to turn the animals to profit through domes- 
tication, and at the same time by this method insure 
perpetuation of rapidly disappearing species. 

"We are suffering from conservatism gone to seed. 
Because our native mammals and birds were originally 
discovered in a wild state we have, unconsciously per- 
haps, conceived the notion that they must of neces- 
sity continue in the wild state. Wild they are and 
wild they must remain. To domesticate them would be 
to change the existing order of things, and that would 
be a sacrilege on Nature. We forget that our domestic 
cattle, our sheep, our horses, and our fowls were once 



PHEASANT FARMING 



wild. We do not consider that our prehistoric ances- 
tors, who were in this respect, at least, more progres- 
sive than ourselves, captured, tamed and domesticated 
the progenitors of our domestic live stock, and by so 
doing added greatly to the wealth, comfort and hap- 
piness of themselves and those who followed them." 

In my opinion, the State of Oregon has the most progressive 
game laws of any state in the Union. While providing ample 
closed seasons and a license that insures enforcement, encourage- 
ment is given to the breeding of game in captivity, and its sale 
under sufficient restrictions. 

Henry Chase, in "Game Protection and Propagation in 
America," says : 

"But necessity absolutely demands that the oc- 
cupation of the market hunter, who supplies city snobs 
and hostelries from the public game domains, be de- 
stroyed by law forthwith. In the place of the 
Demand for market hunter, cold-storage produce dealers 
Game Raised should look to the private game farms and 
in Captivity breeders' camps for their future supply of 

game. There is no question but that there 
exists a legitimate demand for game for food, but that 
demand has no right to expect that it will be supplied 
at the expense of the public welfare." 

Under date of November 28, 1913, Mr. William E. Oates, the 
State Game, Fish and Forestry Warden of Michigan, writes: 
"We are writing to advise you that this department 
is doing all it can to encourage the propagation of 
game animals and believes that they ought to be sold 
and transported under such regulations as will pro- 
tect the wild game of the state. We believe that all 
animals and birds of this kind that are reared in 
captivity will have a tendency to save the wild game of 
the state. There are people who are determined to 
secure wild game even though they have to take 
chances on being prosecuted under our criminal laws 
for obtaining it in an illegal manner. Where there is a 
legal way provided by which wild game can be secured, 
we believe it will be one of the best means of conserv- 
ing our wild game." 

From the twenty-first biennial report of the State Fish and 
Game Commissioner of the state of Vermont is quoted the fol- 
lowing : 

"Under the present restrictive laws it is impossible 
for a person who does not hunt to obtain wild game 
birds for his table unless he happens to have a 

10 



PHEASANT FARMING 



friend who is kind enough and fortunate enough to 
secure a few for him. There is no reason why pheas- 
. ants and wild ducks may not be successfully raised in 
Vermont for the table, and in such manner as to pro- 
duce birds having the flavor of the strictly wild fowl. 
The raising of game birds for the market is coming to 
be an industry in some parts of the country and it 
should be encouraged in Vermont, whether for the 
market or for use on the home table. The more wild 
birds which can be raised in domesticity, the less de- 
mand there will be for the native wild fowl." 

Again, in the California Fish and Game Commission's report 
of 1912, is the following: 

"As it becomes more and more necessary to remove 
all the wild game from the markets, the public de- 
mands something to take its place. This can well be 
supplied from that raised in captivity. A law allowing 
the sale of deer would not make it any more difficult 
to protect the wild animals; on the other hand it would 
supply the demand for venison and would remove the 
reason for violating the law that sometimes exists 

under our present system We recommend that 

pheasants raised in captivity be sold in the markets. 
This has a two-fold advantage. First, it would mean 
a source of revenue to people of small holding, it 
would provide a delicious game bird for the table of 
hotels and restaurants, and proportionally reduce the 
drain on wild game in the fields." 

In a letter dated November 27, 1913, A. Bryan Williams, pro- 
vincial game warden, Vancouver, B. C, says : 

"With regard to the sale of game birds we are 
gradually doing away with the sale of game in this 
province; in fact, it is cut down to a minimum now. 
By encouraging private game farms I am of the opin- 
ion that more wild birds would be sold than those 
raised in captivity." 

In Mr. Williams' report of 1912, in the paragraph pertaining to 
the illegal sale of game, is the following: 

"There are, however, a few wealthy people, who 
should set a good example, who regularly buy game at 
any time they can get it. Not only do these people 
break the law themselves, but they encourage others 
to do it also." 

This emphasizes my contention. Had there been a provincial 
law permitting the sale of game reared in captivity to be sold in 
the market, I know of several pheasant breeders on Vancouver 

11 



"'"A" PHEASA A' T FA R M I N (! y°<<° 

Island who could ; 1 1 1 < I would have supplied this demand. The wild 
game would have been protected, the temptation to violate the 
game laws removed, and a profitable and legitimate enterprise have 
been encouraged. 

N<> one will I mi s a wild game bird sold and boughi in violation 
of the law when he can lawfully buy the same bird reared in cap- 
tivity, and iii the case of pheasants 1 believe the bird so reared is 
superior in quality of flesh to the wild bird. This for the reason 
that the wild bird is constantly on the go and Ids muscles become 
toughened, while the bird in captivity is lender and of equally as 

fine flavor. 




Chinese Pheasant Mother 



/' // /</ A SAN T F A It ivi I N <; 




Male Beeves Pheasant 



CIIAI"! 



Varieties of Pheasants 




' are many rarijN ies of phi a an! i, but 
practical purposei they may be divided 
into i wo genera] ela ■<■ ■■., ( I ) those m ed as 
game, and (2) tho e u icd exeiui ively for 
mow and ornamentation, In the fin I eh 
here are three principal rariel lea ; 'I he 
Chinese [Phasia/n/UB lorqualw > common or 
English Blacl necl (Pha ia/rm colehic u , 
and the English I'm," necl < Phtu kmu t ol 
chicus-torquatw) . Other rarietie/s closely allied to these are the 
Japanese (Phmiarms versicolor), Mongolian (Phasicmu$ mon 
golicus), Reeve (PhaAumuz reevesu). Efagenbeel (Phasicmui ha 
genbecJri), Prince of Walei (Phasumua prmcipaHs) and Soem- 
merring'e (Phasianus soemmerrmgii) ; bni the three kinds first 
named are by far the mosl promineni game varieties. The latter 
named pheasants are reared for their beautiful plumage, the Jap- 
anese and Reeve* being the mosi common. The Mongolian comes 
from the interior of China and there are very few true Mongolian 
pheasants in America. All of the above named birds are true pi ■ ■ 
antfi of which the generic scientific name is Phasianus. The Golden 
{Chrysolophus pictus) , the Amhersi (Ghrysolophia a/mhwstn) and 

13 



PHEASANT FARMING 



the Silver (Gennaeus nycthemerus) pheasants are all of a different 
genus, but they are almost identical in nature and require the same 
treatment in rearing. These three are favorite birds of the aviary. 

The Chinese or Ring-neck pheasant and the common or Eng- 
lish Black-neck pheasant are each separate and distinct varieties 
of pheasants, while the English Eing-neck is a hybrid of the two. 
This latter bird, the English Eing-neck is the common pheasant of 
England today. It is frequently confounded with the Chinese. The 
English Black-neck pheasant is in general nature and form the 
same as the Chinese, differing in this, that the English Black-neck 
is of a general mahogany red cast and has no ring around the neck, 
while the Chinese is lighter and brighter in color and has a silky 
white ring or band around the neck. The English Eing-neck retains 
the mahogany red cast, though not so pronounced as the English 
Black-neck, and has the white collar of the Chinese, hence the name, 
English Eing-neck, indicating the combination of these two dif- 
ferences. 

The old English Black-neck was probably introduced into Eng- 
land before the Norman Conquest, or it may have been native to all 
the northern countries from China to England. There is a record 
of the birds being served as early as A. D. 1059, but now they have 
so interbred with the Chinese that it is • difficult to find a pure 
specimen. 

Of all attempts to raise game birds in captivity, greater success 
has been achieved with pheasants than with any other. In England 
pheasants have been raised in captivity from the time of the Norman 
Conquest. With all this private breeding, the pheasant 
B d' a- ^ as never l° s t hi s w ^d nature, but methods of feeding 
and care have been improved until the breeding of 
pheasants in captivity is well understood and certain in results. At 
this time there are practically no pheasantries in America where the 
birds are raised for the table, and yet there is no reason why pheas- 
ants may not be raised profitably as an article of diet. I do not 
wish to be understood as saying that they can be raised in compe- 
tition with chickens, but there is a constant demand among the 
wealthy persons of all cities for the luxuries, and the breeder of 
pheasants should cater to this demand. There is nothing that so 
reconnnends itself to the suburban resident who has an acre or two 
of ground as pheasant breeding, not only as a source of pleasure, 
but of profit as well. 

14 



PHEASANT FARMING 



The Chinese, Eing-neck or Denny pheasant is the game bird 
par excellence. Taken all in all, it is a serious question whether or 
not he has any superior as an all-around game bird. It is utter 
folly to hunt him without a dog. His ability to conceal himself even 
in the scantiest cover, is wonderful. Without a dog, it is not un- 
common to pass within a few feet of one hidden in the grass, with- 
out his rising. When running in cover he moves very swiftly with 
the body close to the ground, and possesses the ability to pass 
through grass, short or tall, without disturbing 

inese, ^ e surface. When overtaken bv the dog, he will 

King-neck, or . J °' 

Denny Pheasant ^ e weii > an d this fact, combined with the further 
fact that he is always found in the open, makes 
pheasant shooting the cleanest bird shooting in the world. 

Possessed of remarkable vitality, he does not succumb to slight 
gunshot wounds. Being clean-limbed, with powerful thighs, he is 
exceptionally fleet on foot, and if winged only, the pheasant falls 
running, and here the dog is put to his severest test. Very few 
dogs can track a crippled "Chinaman" their first season, but an ex- 
perienced setter or pointer learns to recognize the wounded bird 
and endeavors to be as near him as possible when he touches the 
ground. 

• Besides his gameness and delicate flesh, he is unquestionably 
one of the most ornamental of the game birds. He is a native of 
the northern part of China, being found as far north as the Amour 
River and as far south as Shanghai. The question is often asked if 
the Chinese pheasant can stand the heat and cold. A reference to 
the map of China will answer the question. The pheasant has suc- 
ceeded over the larger part of Europe, even as far north as Sweden. 
On this continent it does well in Canada an 1 . Nova Scotia, but no- 
where has its introduction been attended with such prolific results 
as in the Willamette Valley in the State of Oregon. I do not know 
which is to be congratulated more, the Willamette Valley for hav- 
ing the beautiful and gamey pheasants, or the pheasants for having 
been so fortunate as to find so delightful a valley. 



15 



PHEASANT FARMING 




CHAPTEE III 



The Chinese Pheasant in Oregon 



T WAS stated by an eminent authority on 
pheasants that in 1893 there were more 
Chinese pheasants in Oregon than in the 
whole Chinese Empire. Credence is lent 
this statement when it is remembered that 
it is reliably estimated that in one year 
_ ^O 80,000 were killed in one county in this 

State alone, and the same year 1,200 dozen 
were shipped to the San Francisco market. 
There could be no better testimonial of the adaptability of the Chin- 
ese pheasant as a bird for restocking a state with game than this last 
statement, which comes from no less an authority than Judge Denny, 
the man who introduced the pheasant into Oregon, and after whom 
the bird is often called. For some time Judge Denny had been 
United States Consul General at Shanghai and it was from there 
that he sent the birds to Oregon. The rapidity with which the birds 
increased in this State is made more marvelous when it is remem- 
bered that they were not introduced until 1880 and 1882, and then 
less than fifty birds were liberated. They were protected absolutely 
for ten years, and thereafter an open season of six weeks was provid- 
ed, which was later lengthened to two months, but shortened again 
in 1909 to thirty days on males only. The rapidity of their increase 
is doubtless clue to the large egg production. It is held by those most 
familiar with the birds that under ordinary conditions the hen will 
raise two broods, and in favorable seasons she will care for three 
broods. 

16 



PHEASANT FARMING 



How little the efforts of Judge Denny to introduce the Chinese 
pheasant were appreciated, and how California missed the oppor- 
tunity of being stocked with this grandest of all game birds is told 
by Mr. Fred Lockley in a recent newspaper interview with Mrs. 
Denny, who is at this time a resident of Portland, Oregon. 
"When we returned from China," said Mrs. 
Denny, "we brought with us ninety more pheasants, 
embracing several additional varieties, including the 
Golden, Silver and Copper pheasants, as well as the 
Chefoo quail. These cost us from five to nine dollars 
a pair. Judge Denny planned to distribute them 
throughout the western part of the State under his 
own supervision. Unfortunately, he went to Mexico 
on business and turned the birds over to the Portland 
Rod and Gun Club, believing that they would have 
the greatest interest in their care, preservation and 
distribution throughout the State. The Rod and Gun 
Club sent them to Protection Island, hiring the owner 
of the island to care for the birds and agreeing to pay 
him $25 a month to see that they were properly fed 
and' protected from pot-hunters. Shortly after this, 
one of the officials of the Rod and Gun Club em- 
bezzled the funds of the club, amounting to about 
$1,500, and this resulted in the disbandment of the 
club. The club failed to make any payment to the 
owner of the island, who, in consequence, claimed the 
birds. A few of the birds were sold to individuals, but 
none of them were liberated. And so my husband's 
public-spirited, patriotic efforts toward the introduc- 
tion of these additional varieties of game birds to 
Oregon came to naught. 

"Before returning to the United States, my husband 
communicated with Mr. Redding of San Francisco, ask- 
ing him if he would like to have a shipment of game 
birds sent to California. Mr. Redding was very en- 
thusiastic and made all arrangements to take care of 
them on their arrival. He arranged with the Spring 
Valley Water Company of California, who were also in 
sympathy with the movement, and who arranged to 
have the birds turned out upon their grounds. They 
sowed buckwheat seed in different places and promised 
that every facility for the feeding and comfort of the 
birds would be attended to. Between eighty and 
ninety birds were shipped, extreme care being taken 
so that they would reach San Francisco in good con- 
dition. The ship arrived at the wharf as the funeral 
procession of Mr. Redding was taking place. He had 
died suddenly and no arrangements had been made to 
receive the birds. In fact, no one knew anything about 

17 



PHEASANT FARMING 



Habits 



it. The birds, of course, had to be taken from the 
boat, and, no one seeming to know anything about 
them, the sailors finally gave them away along the 
waterfront and some of them were sold to the city 
markets. California never knew of my husband's 
splendid gift, and the state received no benefit 
from it." 

Prof. W. T. Shaw, in his superb book, "The China, or Denny 
Pheasant in Oregon," says : 

"To know the pheasant well, one must live with 
him throughout the year. He is a bird of moods, in- 
fluenced by shifting conditions and passing seasons, 
in which there are for him, in reality, but two — the 
open and closed. Within a few days after the law says 
no more shooting, he becomes bold and fearless, even 
to the extent of sharing the food of the barnyard fowls 
in winter, though always reserved and suspicious. In 
the brush of the lowlands or from the open meadow, 
comes his two-syllabled call in the stillness of the 
evening twilight. From his roost among the grass or 
sedge tussocks, or the great moss-covered branches 
of an oak, he springs away into the gloom with a 
startled cry. Throughout the long- 
dry summer the young are reared by 
the female, until the days of autumn 
come, the male meanwhile frequent- 
ly greeting you by the roadside with 
a glance of curiosity mingled with 
reserve, standing a moment, erect, 
in all his brightness of coloration, 
ducking an instant later to steal 
silently away among the grass." 

What is said of the Chinese pheasant will 
apply equally to the English Ring-neck and 
English pheasant, excepting that the Chinese 
pheasant is more wild than the other pheasants 
named, more beautiful and gamey, therefore 
best adapted to restocking depleted game fields. 
Thousands have been liberated throughout the 
United States during the past five or six years, 
and in every instance they have become so suc- 
cessfully acclimatized as to stand the most vig- 
orous annual onslaughts, retarded only by the 
pot-hunter who "bags every last thing that 
comes in his way, from English sparrows to 
game wardens." 

18 




Male 

Pheasant 

in Breeding 

Season 

Wattles 

Distended 



PHEASANT FARMING 



A correspondent in a recent sporting magazine says : 

"A mistake was made with the first attempts to 
raise pheasants in captivity in supposing them polyg- 
amous, but the failure which resulted of grouping 
seven hens to a cock soon taught a lesson. Even on 
the trial of two hens to a cock, the eggs lacked vitality, 
and of the chicks hatched many died. A breeder in 
Oregon uses but one hen to a cock, and this is said to 
be the habit of their wild state." 

Nothing could be more misleading than this. Captivity seems 
to change the habits of the bird entirely. The hen rarely ever makes 
a pretense at laying in a nest, much less set and hatch a brood of 
young pheasants. The cock becomes decidedly polygamous. He 
will instantly kill a young bird, if placed in the same enclosure. The 
percentage of fertility of all pheasant eggs is remarkably great. It 
is not at all uncommon for every egg to hatch, and the writer has for 
many years mated from four to six hens with one cock, the latter 
number invariably when the yard is sufficiently large. 

In captivity, a single Chinese pheasant hen has been known to 
lay 104 eggs in one season, extending from April 1st to September 
1st, but sixty eggs is perhaps a fair average. In the wild state, the 
.pheasant seldom roosts in a tree, and then only in one that is open, 
so it is in confinement. While they may stay in the shedded part of 
their pen in the daytime, just at. dusk they select a place with an 
open sky above them in which to pass the night, and this, too, re- 
gardless of the inclemency of the weather. They seem to be indif- 
ferent to snow and rain and after a night out in the rain, appear 
none the worse for the drenching. They commonly roost on the 
ground with feathers drawn down tight to the body. 

The charge is occasionally made in opposition to stocking with 
Chinese pheasants that the pheasant kills off and drives away the 

native game birds. I have made many inquiries 
Effect on extending over a considerable period of time, of men 

Birds w ^ 10 w0lli( i be in a position to know, and the facts 

as I find them disprove this charge, except to a 
very limited extent. 

I recently received a letter from a lawyer friend who has made 
a study of Chinese pheasants and who, I feel, has the situation sized 
up correctly. In speaking of the indictment against the pheasant 
as being responsible for the death of the quail, the native pheasant 

19 



PHEASANT FARMING 




Ruffed Grouse Strutting and Showing Ruff of Glossy Black Feathers 
and Fan-Shaped Tail 



and grouse, he says that in his opinion the Chinese pheasant is 
being made the scapegoat and that the real culprit is civilization. 
In his letter he sa}^s : 

"In the Willamette Valley quail and grouse were 
plentiful before the arrival of the Chinese pheasant, 
and I enjoyed in full measure the pleasure of hunting 
them then and after the advent of the Chinese pheas- 
ant, so that I feel I may testify from personal expe- 
rience. It is true that in later years these native birds 
have become very scarce, and the foreigner plentiful. 
Deep down in my heart there has always been a tender 
spot for the native game birds. The sport of hunting 
these birds, though now rarely enjoyed, is the keenest 
I ever had. I am not so sure, after all, but that much 
of this pleasure is due to the boyhood memory it re- 
calls, and yet some of the grandest hunting I have ever 
had was the Chinese pheasant. 

"I have heard before the suggestion that the Chi- 
nese pheasant had driven out the native pheasant, 
grouse and the quail, but I have never taken any stock 
in this indictment. As every hunter knows, the three 
native birds are modest and retiring. The Chinese 

20 



PHEASANT FARMING 



pheasant is bold and audacious. The former spend 
their time in the deepest thickets, only venturing forth 
in search of food; the latter chooses the open fields 
and pastures; the native birds depend for escape on 
flight and hiding in deepest woods; the Chinese pheas- 
ant is. strong of wing and expert in hiding in the 
scantiest cover, his chief reliance for escape being his 
long, swift legs. A first shot at one of the native birds 







" 










-1 




. ; -—_ 


\? W ^ m 


"' ■ ' 


m* 


» 




i 


. ..■■■■.;'-■■,> 


^MZF^jsl "• " ' ' 


f\,.. • ^> 






W ' ■ 




' > ■ ■ 



Ruffed Grouse or ''Native Pheasant," generally found in damp thickets in mid- 
day or at the edge of a field in the early morning or late afternoon. 



and he is helpless, but you are never really sure of the 
Chinese pheasant until you have broken both legs and 
both wings. These qualities of the native birds have 
made them an easy prey to the dog and the modern 
shotgun. This, combined with their timidity, to my 
mind, solves the mystery and accounts for their grad- 
ual disappearance. I do not deny that possibly a few 
native birds have been killed by the Chinese pheasants, 
but I most seriously question if this has been a con- 
trolling factor. I have never heard of any actual 
cases. 

"I am satisfied that even had the Chinese pheasant 
never been introduced, the native grouse and quail 
would have been just as scarce in the Willamette Val- 

21 



PHEASANT FARMING 



ley as they are today. In fact, I am very positive they 
would have been more scarce because the hunter 
would have confined his attention to them and their 
extermination, for they cannot withstand the trained 
dog and pump and automatic gun, as the Chinese 
pheasant can. No one more sincerely deplores the 
passing of the native game birds than I, but I regard it 
as a most fortunate thing that the Chinese pheasant 
should come to take their place. Without him, there 
would not have been any game birds worth mention- 
ing. No one has ever followed a setter or a pointer 
after Chinese pheasants without being enthusiastic in 
their favor. Though I feel unpatriotic in saying it, 
yet for clean, unadulterated sport, the Chinese pheas- 
ant has everything in his favor. Then the fact that the 
pheasant produces two and sometimes three broods a 
year, is the strongest argument for their desirability 
as a permanent game bird over the native birds with 
their one brood. An unfavorable season may ma- 
terially reduce the broods of the native birds, but the 
pheasant has two or three chances in the season. 

"A few years ago, as a source of pleasure, I raised a 
few pheasants, and, encouraged by the success of the 
first season, the next year reared one hundred pairs. 
I have studied the birds both in the field and in cap- 
tivity. As to their hardiness, there is no question. 
People seem to have the idea, because of their gor- 
geous color, that they are tropical birds, but it should 
be remembered that they are natives of a cold part of 
China, and the fact that they are ready to eat prac- 
tically anything, assists them in securing sustenance 
at all times." 



*-^ 




Ruffed Grouse Drumming on Log 



22 



PHEASANT FARMING 




General View of Pheasant Yards at the State Game Farm. The long line of 

liens running across the field are where the breeding birds are kept 

one cock to six hens in each yard. Partitions are removable. 




CHAPTEK IV 

Equipment for a Pheasant Farm 

F ONE can raise turkeys, he can raise pheasants. 
Like turkeys, when matured, they are very hardy, 
in fact, the similarity between the young pheasant 
and young turkey is very marked. Some of their 
calls, particularly one given at nightfall, are almost 
identical, and in general, treatment adapted to 
turkeys may safely be applied to pheasants. When 
young, the birds are tame and soon learn to know 
their keeper. They will become sufficiently familiar 
to fly upon the keeper's shoulder, or eat out of his hand, but the ap- 
pearance of a stranger calls for a note of warning to the whole flock. 
This note is low but quick and its effect is instantaneous. During 
the laying season it is not advisable to allow strangers to visit the 
pens where the pheasants can see them, and better success will be 
obtained if only one or two persons visit the pheasants, and these 
should be the ones to feed them. The birds will be better controlled 
if the same garments are worn each time, as they instantly detect a 
change in dress. They will avoid for a day or more anything new 
placed in their pens. Some breeders place fir boughs or branches 
of other trees in the pens to offer a hiding place for the pheasants, 
but it is not at all necessary. The pens described further on provide 

23 



PHEASANT FARMING 



for a portion being shedded. This applies only to localities where 
there is considerable rainfall. In drier sections of the country, 
this shed might be supplanted by a small evergreen tree or two in 
the pen. 

The larger the pens in which your pheasants are kept the better. 
They are polygamous, and four hens and a cock may be kept in a 
pen sixteen feet square. This. is a very convenient size, but in any 
event the birds should each have at least fifty square feet of ground. 
It is of advantage to have the pens so arranged that the pheasants 
may be changed from one pen to the other occasionally. This per- 
mits the ground to freshen and it is a good plan to spade up the 
ground frequently. A very satisfactory permanent pen for a trio 
(two hens and a cock) would be sixteen feet by thirty-two feet, 
divided lengthwise with a partition and shedcled for eight feet along 
one end, the shedded end being arranged to ward off as much of the 
storm as possible. Convenient entrances may be arranged and pro- 
vision should be made that the birds may pass from one pen to an- 
other at the keeper's pleasure. For the beginner with a few birds, 
I should recommend this pen, and the changing from one division to 
the other every month or so. 

Where it is desirable to raise full-winged birds under covered 
pens, twine netting, similar to fish netting, possesses advantages 
over wire netting for overhead covering. Aside from 
fi^w- «< being much cheaper, the twine netting requires fewer 
Birds posts and braces and can be put up in much less 

time and taken down and stored away when not in 
use. Wire covered pens, especially if the wire be of one inch mesh, 
in a locality subject to snow storms, is always a source of annoy- 
ance and frequently much damage may 
be clone. Its advantage is its durability. 
But perhaps the greatest advantage in 
using twine netting will be found in 
the fact that birds cannot injure them- 
selves by flying against the netting, as 
is frequently the case with wire covered 
pens. 

If you cover . your pens with wire 

netting, stretch it loosely. It may not 

look so well, but it will save the birds. 

It is much easier to raise pinioned 

birds for market purposes than to raise 




Reeves Pheasant Chick 



24 



PHEASANT FARMING 



full-winged birds for stocking the fields. The pinioning is done 
when the pheasant chick is about three days old by clipping the 
last joint of one wing with sharp scissors. At this age there is 
practically no blood in the tip of the wing and it heals over imme- 
diately. This prevents the pheasant from ever flying and it can 
always be kept in an open pen where a fence is six or seven feet. high. 




Partitions in Breeding Pens Set Aside so a& to Plow and Cultivate the Yards 



The breeding yards with Removable partitions, for pinioned 

birds, are a great improvement over the old-style stationary pens. 

These yards are twenty-four feet square, have no 

* , Db covering and/ accommodate six hens and one cock 
lards 7 o 

during the /laying season, immediately after which 

the birds are turned^ out into a large open field adjoin- 
ing. At this seasoh the cocks will not fight, and but little 
time is consumed ■ each day in caring for several hundred birds. 
The partitions are then set aside and the entire strip cultivated and 
sown with grass seed, and the work may be clone with a plow, 
whereas, if the partitions were stationary, it would take considerable 
time to spade and rake each individual yard. About the first of 
March these partitions should be put back into place and the birds 
mated up for the laying season. 

25 



PHEASANT FARMING 



I have tried large breeding yards but with very poor success. 
The method is quite common in England and consists of an open 
field of about one acre enclosed with a six-foot woven wire fence, 
into which is placed about five dozen pinioned pheasant hens and 
one dozen cocks. One cock usually "bosses" all the rest ; eggs are hard 
to find, and, worst of all, the eggs that are laid the crows often get. 

Breeding yards for all full-winged birds are the same size as the 
open yards above described, but partitions are stationary, and are 
covered overhead with netting stretched loosely. One side is boarded 
up tight, which together with a three-foot roof on the side from 
which the storms come, forms sufficient shelter. Under this 
shelter ample perches are provided, but must be removed just before 
the laying season to prevent the birds from dropping their eggs 
while upon the perch, in which case the eggs would be broken and 
soon eaten. 

The habit of egg eating is always a source of great annoyance 
to the pheasant raiser, and no sure method of prevention or cure 
is known. The best method to combat the evil, so far discovered, 
is to place several cast iron nest eggs, painted as near the color of 
pheasant eggs as possible, around in the breeding pen. They seldom 
take the second peck at these iron eggs and hence avoid the true eggs 
lying about. The iron eggs are far superior to the wooden or por- 
celain, but after all, it is best to remove the temptation by gathering 
the eggs several times a day. 

Nests as shown in the illustration are placed in yards twelve by 
sixteen, two sections of six nests each, or twelve nests to the yard, 
and numbered consecutively from one to twelve. These yards are 
constructed in a double row with an alley between, from which a 
gate opens into each yard. The nests should be made about 
fourteen inches square and placed flat upon the ground 
without a bottom. A slight depression should be made in the 




Settings of Pheasant Eggs 
26 



PHEASANT FARMING 



ground, in which arrange a small quantity of soft straw or grass 

hay, as you would for chickens. Food, fresh water and a place for 

dusting are first provided in each yard, then, at a regular hour each 

morning, beginning at yard number one, all hens in that yard are 

let out to eat, drink, take a dust bath, by simply dropping the 

hinged door in front of each nest. Regularity is very essential, 

since the hens soon learn just when to. expect their liberty and if not 

let out on time will often become so restless as to foul their nests 

or break an egg or two. While the hens are eating the yards should 

be inspected carefully and a note made of any nest found in bad 

order or containing a broken or dirty egg. After the hens have all 

returned to their nests and the doors in front fastened securely, a 

clean rag and a bucket of lukewarm water is used in cleaning the 

eggs in any nest a note of which has been made. When possible, 

all the hens in one yard are set at the same time. When each yard 

has hatched, the unhatched eggs are buried, the egg shells and 

straw taken out and burned, and new nests made before setting 

again. During excessively hot weather, the ground around the nests 

should be thoroughly sprinkled with water to provide the necessary 

amount of moisture for the eggs. 

A record of each nest and its contents should be kept in a book 

specially ruled for the purpose. The author uses the form shown 

in cut. This record shows the date the eggs were set, 
Nest 
Rec rds wnen they are due to hatch, the number of the yard and 

nest in which they were set, number of eggs and va- 
riety, and the number of young birds hatched. In the columns 
marked "Dusted" are the dates upon which every hen must be 
dusted with insect powder. This operation takes place just before 



SETTING HEN— NEST RECORD 



Date 


Date 


Yard 


Nest 


Dusted 


Chinese 
Pheasants 


Beeves 
Pheasants 


Set 


Due to 
Hatch 


No. 


No. 


Date 


Date 


Date 


Date 


Set 


Hatch' d 


Set 


Hatch' d 











































































































































































27 



PHEASANT FARMING 



the hen is set upon the pheasant eggs, and every six days there- 
after. Do not dust the hen during the three days before the eggs 
are due to hatch. A glance at this record shows the date of the 
next hatch, the exact number of eggs set, birds hatched, of what 
variety, number of eggs still unhatchecl, and just where to find the 
nests; also how many and what hens must be dusted with insect 
powder that day. As the hens are dusted, a check mark is drawn 
through the date. 

While cleanliness is essential to healthy pheasants, vigilance 
must be exercised to prevent lice. Prevention is far better than 
cure, and this is the object of the dusting process. The powder 
used is common pyrethrum. Buy it at a reliable drug store and 
insist on having the pure stuff, and be sure that it is fresh. 

A drinking fountain, as shown in illustration, should be pro- 
vided for all young birds, and in warm weather the water should 
be changed daily and the fountain washed clean. Neglect of this 
means disease. 




28 



PHEASANT FARMING 




Mother With Young Pheasants 



CHAPTEE V 




The Ideal Mother for Pheasants 



ERHAPS no better hen can be found 
for rearing pheasants than the 
Cochin bantam. However, Japanese 
silkies are very much in favor for 
this purpose among pheasant breed- 
ers in England. Silkies are in a 
class by themselves, possessing pecu- 
liarities found in no other variety of 
chickens, such as black skin, purple 
combs and webless feathers of a silky texture, rendering them unable 
to fly. They are pure white in plumage, most excellent layers and 
easily confined. While the pure silky makes a good mother for 
young pheasants, when crossed with Cochin bantam, the result is 
very unsatisfactory. Such crosses are wild and nervous, of indis- 
criminate color, and showing tendencies of reverting back to their 
evident ancestor, the jungle fowl. 

For the purpose of perfecting an ideal hen for hatching pheas- 
ants, buff and white Cochin bantams were first crossed, producing 
a slightly larger chicken, about evenly divided in color between buff, 
white and black, with striped hackles. The largest of these females 
were selected and mated with a short, chunky Rhode Island red 
male, producing a hen considerably larger than the Cochin bantam, 
one that could cover more eggs but retain the excellent broody 
qualities of the bantam. By further selection, the objectionable 

29 



PHEASANT FARMING 



feature, in a wet climate at least, of heavily feathered legs, was 
eliminated, and the size and quantity of their eggs increased, to- 
gether with added hardiness to the young chicks. Thus I produced 
the "near bantam," which I have used for many seasons, but when 
the supply is exhausted, a wagon is sent out into the surrounding 
country for setting hens. This is usually at a time of the year when 
it is considered too late to set chicken eggs — May, June and July — 
but broody hens are more numerous at this time than at any other 
season. By paying for "setters" a price slightly in advance of the 
market price, many farmers are induced to hold their setting hens 
until regular trips can be made for them. In fact, the business of 
supplying the State Game Farm with setting hens has grown to 
such proportions as to become a well established side issue in this 
locality. These hens are brought in sacks, not coops, and placed 
on nest eggs in a darkened coop, and not given liberty until the fol- 
lowing day. No hen is given pheasant eggs until thoroughly 
"broken in" to the nest eggs. So anxious are some farmers to sell 
their chickens at this slightly advanced price that frequently there 
are offered whole coops of chickens that have no notion of setting. 
This has necessitated establishing a rule that "a setting hen is not a 
setting hen until you pick her up off the nest." 




Hens on Pheasant Eggs 

Incubators are found most valuable when used in connection 
with setting hens. When a number of large hens are set at one 
time, all of the pheasant eggs may be removed when just beginning 
Artificial ^° l 3 ^ 3 anc ^ l^ acec ^ m an incubator that has previ- 

Incubating ously been heated to about 103 degrees. The hens 
from which the eggs have been removed may be 
re-set immediately. The smaller and more motherly hens should 
be left on their nests and not disturbed. The removal of all of 
the eggs but one or two from a hen is a mistake, since, 

30 



PHEASANT FARMING 



in the absence of the usual number of eggs in the nest, 
the hen is most likely to set so heavily on the remaining one 
or two as to mash them at hatching time. After these hens have 
been removed to the brood coop with their individual hatch and 
given food and water, and allowed ample time in which to hover 
their chicks, other young pheasants may be added from the in- 
cubator, providing they are of the same age and variety as those that 
she has hatched. A hen will invariably kill instantly any young 
pheasant given her of a variety other than that which she has 
hatched. For instance, a hen that has hatched silver pheasants will 
not claim goldens, or Chinese, and vice versa. A hen can properly 
hover and care for more young pheasants than she can hatch out 
without entailing considerable loss before they leave the nest, hence 
the use of the incubator. 

Pheasant eggs will, beyond a doubt, hatch as well in an incu- 
bator as will chicken eggs, but I will have to admit that so far I 
have been unable to successfully brood young pheasants artificially, 
though the. incubator has proven a great help when used as de- 
scribed above. 

For some time I experienced difficulty in getting the hen to 
hover the pheasants when they were first taken from the nest ; the 
pheasants, being foster children of the hen, do not understand her 
call or her manner. They do not seem to understand that she will 
hover them. They do not recognize that she is "home and mother." 
The hen is perfectly willing to receive the pheasants, but her call to 
them is not the natural call of the pheasant, hence it means nothing 
to them. Some plan must be devised to bring the j)heasants under 
the hen. Eecentb r I have adopted this plan with good success : A 
basket is prepared with a hot water bag filled with tepid water and 

placed in the bottom 
of the basket, over 
which is placed a cloth. 
When the pheasants 
are first taken off 
from the nest, they 
are placed in this 
basket and a cloth 
thrown over the top. 
Enough air will pass 
through the sides of 

Brood Coop for Young Pheasants the basket SO they will 

31 




PHEASANT FARMING 



not smother. The brood coop is then prepared by covering 
the bottom with sand. Food and water are placed in the 
coop and then the hen is left in the brood coop for about twenty 
minutes. During this twenty minutes the hen has had an oppor- 
tunity to feed and get acquainted with her new quarters and is 
ready to settle down and receive the young pheasants. The pheas- 
ants are then placed in the coop with her, and, having nothing else 
to attract her attention, the hen will see to it that the pheasants are 
hovered. It is advisable to take the hen off in the forenoon so that 
you may give the chicks more or less attention to see that they are 
properly hovered. If the day is warm, the plan of using the hot 
water bag need not be followed, and if the day is cloudy or cold, 
of course one will necessarily have to give the pheasants more 
attention than on a bright, warm day. 

The number of young pheasants that may safely be given to one 

hen varies from about twelve to sixteen, according to the weather 

and the size of the hen. A common mistake is to set 

^^ Ze T? i too many eggs under one hen, or to give one hen too 
the Brood J && ' & 

many young pheasants. Late one summer I gave a 
large Plymouth Eock hen twenty-five little pheasants, of which she 
raised to maturity twent3^-four. This, however, was an exceptional 
case. 

Pheasants will hatch about the twenty-third day and their 
natural disposition is to leave the nest immediately, hence the added 
advantage of having the hens locked up. When the young pheasants 
are about twenty-four hours old, remove, with the mother hen, to a 
coop, where they should be kept until three days old. The trap door 
at the bottom may then be raised, giving the little birds their free- 
dom, but restraining the hen. Before liberating the young brood 
of pheasants, have the grass cut short, allowing it to grow up with 
the young birds. Unless the yard is covered overhead with wire 
netting, the young birds should be pinioned to prevent their flying 
over the fence and straying away. 

The young pheasants all have the same plumage until about 
two months old — that of a grayish brown. When a month old it 
will be noted that the feathers on the back of the neck near the 
body on some of the young birds will show slightly lighter in color 
with a salmon colored cast. These are the hens, the corresponding 
feathers on the cocks remaining darker and near the color of the 
remainder of the plumage. When two months old, splotches of 

32 



PHEASANT FARMING 



chestnut red will begin to appear on the breasts of the cocks. The 
hens undergo small changes in plumage, and while of a general fawn 
„. color, some of the tints shown on their necks are very 

Jr 111 Wlil 0> (? 

beautiful and possessed of remarkable protective col- 
oration. The .cocks continue to change color rapidly until at five 
months they will be in full plumage. Their wealth of color, sur- 
passing the rainbow in variety, gorgeous but delicately blended, 
beggars description. The artist's brush has never reproduced it, 
much less can the pen portray the idea of its beauty. Graceful in 
form, with his splendid robes, the cock Chinese pheasant is one of 
the most beautiful birds in existence. It has truthfully been said 
that the Chinese pheasant cock does not possess a homely feather. 
The eye never tires of admiring his plumage. He is a source of 
continuous delight to the breeder. 



33 



PHEASANT FARMING 




Young Chinese or Ring-Neck Pheasants at State Game Farm 



CHAPTEE VI 



Food for Young Pheasants 





HEN forty-eight hours old, the young 
pheasant may be fed sparingly on hard- 
boiled eggs, chopped fine with a little 
onion tops, fresh-ground, lean meat, 
crumbled with shorts or corn meal, and 
later dry chick food, boiled rice and curd. 
A custard, made of eggs and milk, and 
cooked in the usual manner, is also an 
excellent food for young pheasants. 
Another successful method of feeding young pheasants is with 
the larvae of the common blue fly (maggots). When this food is 
used, nothing else need be fed, except greens occasionally, until the 
birds are a month old. However, the chick food or cracked wheat 
should be kept before them that they may learn to eat it and be 
prepared to adapt themselves to the whole wheat diet when the larvae 
food has been discontinued, which should be done gradually. 

The objection to the larvae food is the offensive odor ordinarily 
associated with it. This may be overcome by raising the larvae 
scientifically. Contrary to the commonly accepted idea, the larvae 

34 



PHEASANT FARMING 



of the fly prefer fresh to decaying meat. Professor McGillivray, 
of Queen's University, Toronto, who has successfully raised 
English Eing-neck pheasants, says: 

"Our investigation and study of entomology prove to 
us that maggots, separated from their usual surround- 
ings, are just as clean and odorless as young chickens. 
Flies do not lay their eggs on tainted meat when fresh 
meat can be found, and maggots are clean feeders 
from choice and thrive best on fresh meat." 

If the following method is employed, there will be little or no 
odor. Secure a quantity of green bone and meat trimmings coarsely 
ground together. Take a tin pan with straight sides at least three 
inches deep and cover bottom with shorts, bran or fine 
Breeding ^^ preferably bran, as the shorts have a tendency to 
Larvae pack. On this place the bone and meat mixture and 

leave where the flies may have access to it. In 
warm weather the fly eggs will hatch in about two days' time and 
the bone mixture will be partially dried up. The larvae are adverse 
to strong light and will be found to have gone to the bran. They 
must now have something to feed upon. Eemove the bone mixture 
and place thin slices of fresh liver on the bran. Turn the bone mix- 
ture back on top of the slices of liver. In a few hours the larvae 
will all leave the bone mixture and be under and feeding upon the 
liver. After this the bone mixture should be thrown away. 

In a day's time the liver will be eaten to shreds and must be re- 
placed with a fresh supply of thinly sliced liver of fresh meat, and 
so on each day until the larvae are practically full grown. This will 
take nearly a week's time and they may then be fed to the young 
pheasants. The larvae must be fed on liver or meat as long as they 
are on hand. As soon as they are matured they will descend into 
the bran or dirt and change into the pupa state. In feeding the 
liver or meat, feed only enough to be consumed in twenty-four 
hours' time. "The assimilating power of the larvae is so great 
that it can change every particle of meat or liver (except fibre) to 
larvae, consequently there can be no smell." The object in cutting 
the liver or meat thin is that it may all be consumed before having 
time to become tainted. Keep an extra supply of liver in a cool 
place, and a little charcoal, such as is used to feed chickens, 
sprinkled over and under it will tend to keep it fresh. 

In order to keep a supply of larvae, it will be necessary to put 
out new pans of bone every few days, depending on quantity, the 

35 



PHEASANT FARMING 



number of pheasants you have and the state of the weather. The 
wanner the weather the more rapid the development of the larvae. 
If you contemplate using larvae, you should start with the bone 
mixture a week prior to the date of first hatching. 

The advantage of this food is that you need not hesitate to feed 
young birds all they will eat. They are wild for it and will fre- 
quently crowd their crojis and throats to overflowing 
van age w ith no apparent bad results. They thrive better on 
as a Food this food than on anything else. Other methods may 
be employed to produce the larvae, but it should be 
remembered that but fifteen days' time elapses from the laying of 
the fly egg until it has successfully become larvae, entered the pupa 
state and turned into a fly again. The larvae are clean feeders and 
they must have a medium (shorts, bran or clean fine dirt pref- 
erably) in which to bury themselves. When about ten days' old 
they pass into the pupa state, in which form they may be kept if 
stored at a low temperature. (40 degrees F.) The low tempera- 
ture stops the development. 

Every one is familiar with the history of the butterfly: how a 
worm apparently dries up in the fall of the year and in springtime 
breaks open to release a beautiful butterfly. This dried worm is 
the pupa, and just as the butterfly's egg develops a worm and later 
produces a perfect insect, so the larvae of the common fly, when 
grown, dries up and later produces a fly again, only the change to 
the fly is accomplished in a few days instead of months. 

Should the pan of shorts, bran or dirt become heated, it means 
that the larvae are too crowded and will leave, if possible. A part 
should be removed to another pan or given a larger proportion of 
shorts, bran or dirt. 

With the facts above, your own ingenuity and some experience 
will suggest convenient methods for producing larvae, but remember 
that the pheasant is primarily an insect eating bird, and the larvae is 
a natural food. As stated, custards, eggs, etc., may be used suc- 
cessfully, but they are substitutes. When the birds are two weeks 
old, chopped meat may be gradually substituted for the larvae until, 
when a month old, the larvae may be discontinued altogether. A 
good way to prepare the meat is to chop it fine with a sharp chopper 
and then mix shorts with it, rolling it between the hands until it- 
crumbles. After tbe birds are a montb old, they may be fed 
cracked wheat (soft wheat is best) with a little charcoal or grit al- 

36 



PHEASANT FARMING 



ternating with the meat diet. The meat may be discontinued after 
two months, except that it is not a bad plan to give them a little of 
it once or twice a week for another month. From this time on, 
they may be fed the same as chickens, except that their nature de- 
mands more insects, and if these are not supplied naturally, they 
will do better if given a feed of the chopped meat and shorts every 
week or ten days until they are grown. 

For the purpose of furnishing a cheap supply of fresh meat to 
be fed to the young birds direct, and for material for the propaga- 
tion of fly larvae, New Zealand hares may be used. They are some- 
what larger than the common Belgian hare, not so quarrelsome 
when many are yarded together, and are easier to breed to a uni- 
form color. They are very prolific and can be propagated during 
the fall and winter months, at which time good use may be made of 
the same brood coops in which pheasants were reared during the 
summer. 

Several' pounds of fresh meat may be obtained from one animal, 
run through a small meat grinder and fed direct to the young 
pheasants, taking the place of other chopped meat. The remainder 
of the carcass, excepting the skin, which has a commercial value, is 
consigned to the "bug house" for the flies to work upon. By propa- 
gating hares for this purpose, one not only has a supply of fresh 
meat when he wants it, and in just the quantity desired, but he is 
sure of its being fresh. 

Nothing is more fatal to young pheasants than putrid meat and 
meat that has been treated with a preservative, such as sodium sul- 
phite. These preservatives appear under various trade names on 

the market. These trade names also cause the purchaser 
Avoid |_ ftdnk that he is getting something different than he 
Meat had before. Some of the samples are colored with a coal 

tar dye. These preservatives are often used in making 
hamburg steak. This can be readily detected by noticing the color 
of the meat as the butcher breaks it from the pile on the counter. 
Meat preserved with it shows a bright red color, but the portion not 
in contact with the air is much darker as a rule. After it has been 
in contact with the air for a few minutes, it will also assume the 
same bright color. Sodium sulphite is sold under such names as 
"Freezum," "Preservaline" and "Freezine," also sometimes as an 
"Anti Ferment." 

37 



PHEASANT FARMING 



Green grass is essential in every breeding pen. The birds re- 
quire a certain amount to keep them in good laying condition. The 
egg-eating habit is not so apt to be contracted as where the pens are 
absolutely bare. In the absence of grass, green stuff may best be 
provided by spading up, sod and all, suitable turf from the outside 
and giving the birds a fresh shovelful every day. They will take 
delight in picking it apart. Lawn clippings are not very good as 
they soon wilt and will scarcely be touched. 

Until the pheasants are six weeks old, they should be fed three 
times a day, then twice a day until grown, and after that once a day. 




*»* -w,*»^ 



Half-Grown Silver Pheasant 



38 



PHEASANT FARMING 




Coops at State Game Farm 

CHAPTER VII 

Enemies of the Game Breeder 

SHE enemies of the chicken yard are likewise 
the enemies of the pheasantry. A shotgun 
- ; is a valuable implement in pheasant farm- 
te ing, but keep it where you can get it 
H quickly. 

Wage continuous war on rats. Of all 
the predatory animals the game breeder 
has to contend with, he will find the rat 
the hardest to combat, for, like the poor, 
we have them with us always. Rats are more apt to be found 
around a pheasant yard than a chicken yard. It is easy to 
regulate the amount of food given common poultry, conse- 
quently none need be left on the ground to attract rats. Some 
pheasants, however, are so shy they will not eat until the attendant 
has scattered the food and gone away. Therefore, it is necessary for 





Rat Eating Young Pheasant 
39 



PHEASANT FARMING 



the pheasant breeder to fight rats continually and by every method 
possible, and even then he will have some rats. I have tried steel 
traps, wire cage traps, poison, carbon bisulphide, gopher extermin- 
ators and various other remedies, but find nothing so effective as a 
good "varmint" dog. It is useless to put out poison as long as the 
rats have access to other food. Gopher exterminators or explosive 
cartridges placed in rat holes and ignited fill the passage with 
smoke and gas. By using these we have killed some rats, but this 
method is uncertain, likewise the carbon bisulphide. 

Cats are an abomination. Government statistics tell us that not 
two per cent of the cats are ratters, and no cat ever lived that would 
not kill a young pheasant, if given an opportunity. One-inch mesh 
wire netting sunk two feet into the ground around a pen will keep 
out rats for two or three seasons, or until the wire begins to corrode. 
The sides and top of pen must also be of one-inch mesh wire, other- 
wise the rats will get in over the top. 

If all buildings are up from the ground high enough to permit 
a dog to have full access, and you have the right kind of a dog, he 
will take care of the rats as fast as thev come. Whenever a rat hole 




Airedale, the Pheasant Breeder's Dog 
40 



PHEASANT FARMING 



is found in any part of the yards, no time should be lost in digging 
it out. With the help of a good dog, a rat will rarely ever get away. 
In my many years of experience in raising pheasants, compara- 
tively few birds have been lost through rats. I attribute this mainly 
to the presence of one or more Airedale dogs. These dogs take to 
the hunting and killing of rats naturally and willingly, without 
guidance or training. With persistence and un- 
Breeder's Dos: daunted courage, yet quiet and even-tempered, the 
Airedale is the pheasant breeder's dog. He com- 
bines, more than any other breed, everything that is useful for the 
pheasant farm. R. M. Palmer, in his book "All About Airedales," 
says: 

"Airedales were seemingly created to fill a well 
defined want and need for just such a dog as they 
are." 

Pheasants soon become accustomed to one dog around their 
yards, but become greatly alarmed upon the approach of a strange 
one. At the present time I have a pair of Airedales that have the 
full run of the farm. With many visitors during the day time they 
are always quiet and agreeable, yet at night they never permit a 
stranger to enter the place. 

Of the various members of the hawk family that prey upon game 
birds, perhaps the western red-tailed hawk, because of his abund- 
ance, is the most difficult to control, notwithstanding the nice 
things said of him by our leading ornithologists. The 
Cooper hawk is another offender. When it comes to 
destroying both game and other birds' nests, the com- 
mon crow heads the list. The Department of Agriculture has 

classed the crow as a desirable 
citizen. Since the crow him- 
self is a great destroyer of bird 
life, by his persistent hunting 
for and destruction of nests, 
it is hard for those actually 
familiar with the subject to 
place him in the beneficial 
column. The examination of 
any number of crow stomachs 
during the year does not prove 
the crow beneficial to the 
farmer, the poultry raiser or 
41 



Predatory 
Birds 




Crow Eating Pheasant Egg 



PHEASANT FARMING 



the experienced sportsman. The birds killed may have had very dif- 
ferent meals on consecutive days. It is such reports as this that 
cause the general public — at least that portion that resides in the 
country — to lose faith in ornithological lore in general. Certain it 
is that just as sure as a crow finds a breeding pen of pheasants in 
an open yard, he will get almost every egg if you don't get him. 
You can usually fool the pheasant hen with a cast iron egg painted 
as nearly the color of the real egg as possible, but you can't fool Mr. 
Crow. To get within gunshot of a crow is not an easy task, but he 
will partake of a pheasant egg that has been carefully dosed with 
strychnine. When one crow has been poisoned, the balance of the 
flock will fly high over your premises for some time. 




Proioling Cat — The Enemy of Game Birds 
42 



PHEASANT FARMING 



Kill the 
Stray Cat 



The prowling, semi-domesticated cat is the greatest destroyer of 
game birds among our four-footed animals. In this, perhaps the 
greatest Chinese pheasant country in the United 
States, the marauding cat kills more pheasants than 
all the illegal hunters. He is afield three hundred 
and sixty-five days in the year. Having been raised in domestica- 
tion, perhaps on your own premises, he knows your habits and takes 
advantage of }^ou only under cover of darkness. He takes not only 
young birds during the breeding season but full-grown Chinese 
pheasant hens as well. Only in one instance have I known a cat to 
attack a full-grown pheasant cock. Aside from the loss of a handful 
of feathers, the cock was unharmed. The next night this same cat 
caught a full-grown Chinese pheasant hen and carried her over a 
six-foot wire netting fence before a load of number four shot stopped 
her. Occasionally a cat will take strychnine when placed on fresh 
meat, but in doing so may carry the poison where it may do great 
harm. We have caught several exceedingly wild and vicious tomcats 
by baiting with a piece of fresh meat a trap similar in construction 
to an early day grizzly bear trap, but of course on a. much smaller 
scale. The trap is made of a coal-oil case, one end of which is a 
trap door which drops behind the cat after it has gone in and 
sprung the trigger, arranged on top, by pulling the bait from the 
end of a nail in the rear end of the trap. I have found no better 
means of ridding my premises of cats than the presence of one or 
more good Airedale dogs, with which a cat has no chance whatever. 




Airedales at State Game Farm After Rats 
43 



PHEASANT FARMING 



The first edition of "Pheasant Farming" was criticised by a 

lady in Kentucky as follows : "The subjects treated are admirably 

, T . „ . . handled and leave no doubt in the mind of the 

3ot Subject . 

to Disease amateur how to proceed, but you mention nothing of 

the ailments of pheasants and necessary treatment." 

Under natural conditions pheasants are not subject to disease. We 

know they have no diseases in their wild state. Ninety per cent of 

the so-called diseases of common poultry is the result of unsanitary 

quarters, improper feeding and lice both on young and old birds. 

Bear in mind that stale and decaying food and unclean drinking 
water in unclean drinking fountains are just the causes that breed 
disease germs. Pens in which birds have been kept for long periods 
of time also invite disease germs. You cannot successfully keep 
full grown birds in a small pen for a year at a time. Even though 
they do not succumb to disease, they will not be in vigorous con- 
dition and the best results will not follow. This applies with greater 
force to young birds ; and in the matter of feeding greater care is 
necessary, if you feed custard and similar foods. All such food not 
consumed should be removed from the pens each day. Whether 
you have many or few birds, arrange your pens so that the birds may 
have fresh ground to run on occasionally. The pen sixteen by 
thirty-two feet, with partition lengthwise through the center, as 
suggested in the preceding pages, will accomplish this end. Keep 
the pens, coops, and everything else connected with the pheasants. 
clean. Then, if you use care to keep the food and drinking water 
clean, you will have no trouble with disease or lice. 

All birds in their natural state frequently indulge in a dust bath. 
Lice and dust cannot exist together. The phyrethrum powder sug- 
gested is particularly disastrous to lice. Common road dust works 
in much the same way. though perhaps less effectively: hut the 
use oi' pvrethrum is impractical except in the case of the setting 
hens. It is an excellent plan from time to time to place a quan- 
tity of road dust in a dry portion of the pen. The pheasants will 
avail themselves of its use. Even the very small birds delight to 
wallow in this dust. It will he a good plan if. in the fall of the 
year, you will store away in a dry place a few barrels of dust to use 
the next spring before dust is obtainable from the roads. 



44 



PHEASANT FARMING 



/All 



E 



■f:J 



A 







'frS- 



Chinese Pheasants Eating Grasshoppers 



CHAPTEE VIII 

Advice to the Beginners 

X THE foregoing pages I have treated the 
subject of pheasant farming in a manner 
applicable to the rearing of a few or a large 
number of pheasants. The average person, 
however, will probably begin with a small 
number of birds. Now, for the benefit of 
the amateur beginning in a small way, I 
would advise the following procedure: First, 
build a double pen sixteen by thirty-two feet, 

with partition in the center, as described in the foregoing pages. 

Into this pen place four or five pheasant liens with one cock. Pur- 

45 




PHEASANT FARMING 



chase your birds in the fall of the year in order that they may be- 
come acquainted with their quarters and feel at home before the 
laying season. Then before the first of March secure two dozen 
Cochin bantams. While the "near bantam" I have described is bet- 
ter, still you will be unable to procure these, and there is no ques- 
tion but that the Cochin bantams are a success for pheasant rearing. 
Exercise care in the purchase of your bantams that they are not 
infected with lice, and use those ordinary precautions known to 
poultrymen to keep them free from these pests. Give them good, 
healthy, sanitary quarters to live in, and keep them away from your 
other chickens so that they ma}^ not be contaminated with lice or 
disease. Lice on your hens means lice on your young pheasants. 
Prepare a place for jour nests as heretofore described and follow the 
directions as to setting the hens, care of setting hens, etc., until the 
birds are taken off the nest. 

There is no trouble about hatching pheasants. Feeding is prob- 
ably the most serious problem. Don't try to experiment ivith foods. 
Follow the directions I have given, and if you will take my advice, 
for the first year at least, you will feed your birds until they are a 
month old on the fly larvae. I recognize that this may appear to 
you as offensive, but following the directions I have given, you will 
find that this is an imaginary offense. The reason I so strongly 
advise the use of the fly larvae is because it is the natural food of 
the pheasant, and with its use you cannot fail, if you exercise other 
ordinary precautions which I have suggested. From your first 
year's experience with pheasants you will learn of their nature and 
disposition and be better qualified to act on your own initiative. 

While I have tried various methods of feeding and have been 
successful in feeding the young birds custard, still, after all my 
years of experience, I am still feeding fly larvae. The mother hen 
being kept in the coop enables you to feed her with ordinary food 
and to supply the fly larvae to the young birds alone. You cannot 
afford to place the fly larvae where the mother hen can reach them. 
A good plan in feeding larvae is to have a shallow pie tin with ver- 
tical sides in which is placed some fine dirt. Then with a long- 
handled spoon you can place some of the larvae on this dirt. They 
will immediately bury themselves in it, but the pheasant chick soon 
learns how to find them. The young pheasant, after eating a few, 
will run about, returning occasionally to the pan. With the "bugs" 
thus constantly before him, the young chick will not overeat, but if 

46 



PHEASANT FARMING 



he does it will not hurt him. The sides of the shallow pie tin being 
perpendicular, the larvae will be unable to crawl out of the pan 
unless there is too much dirt. 

After the pheasants are a month old, feed the chopped meat 
rolled with shorts, as I have described, and gradually change to a 
wheat diet. Your pheasants, like chickens, will enjoy a change of 
diet. A stalk of lettuce hung in the pen so that they can reach it 
will be relished. A tuft of grass sod will be a pleasing variety. A 
few fish worms or grasshoppers thrown into the pen will be eagerly 
devoured. Pheasants, like chickens, require grit. It is also a good 
plan to give them a little charcoal occasionally. In short, the grown 
pheasant may be fed the same as a chicken, but, being insectivorous, 
meat, insects and worms given occasionally are desirable additions 
to his menu. 

After the first year's experience, you will be encouraged to 
branch out and rear pheasants on a larger scale; and if you have 
any love for birds, and particularly if there is any blood of the 
sportsman in your veins, you will surely enjoy raising pheasants. 
It is a most interesting occupation and the little time you will give 
to it will amply repay you in the pleasure you receive. 




Hen Pheasant and Young 



47 



NOTES 



48 



NOTES 



49 



NO T ES 



50 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



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